


Liberty and Death

by JantoJones



Series: Modest Briefings (The 2nd 100) [56]
Category: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-29 10:56:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20795513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JantoJones/pseuds/JantoJones





	Liberty and Death

When Illya Kuryakin walked into the cipher department of the New York headquarters of U.N.C.L.E. he could feel every female eye on him. There had been a time when the attention had irritated him but, in recent years he had grown accustomed to it. More than that, he had come to bask in it slightly. He wouldn’t call himself a vain man, but it was nice to know he was attractive. Besides, he enjoyed how much it annoyed his partner; who had to work a little harder for the attention.

“Good morning, Miss Wain, he said warmly, striding up to the woman’s desk. Has the McIvor letter been decoded yet?”

The coded letter had been sent by an agent who had been found dead only that morning. The man, Herbert McIvor, had been carrying sensitive documents, destined for the attention of Mr Waverly. McIvor had believed that a net was closing around him so had decided the option was to hide his package and then act as decoy. He had stated he would send a coded letter containing clues as to the whereabouts of the documents. His letter had arrived an hour after his body was found.

It had initially been feared that the documents had found their way into the hands of an enemy; probably Thrush. Although there were plenty of others who would pay handsomely for the information they contained. However, there had been no chatter from any quarter that would indicate such a thing had happened, so it was assumed they were still undiscovered.

Here you go, Mr Kuryakin,” Janice Wain said, as she handed him the translation.

She offered him a soft smile, and fluttered her eyelashes, in the hope of gaining his attention. Unfortunately, Illya’s mind was on the words on the page.

“Are you sure this is not still in code,” he asked. “It reads like something by Tolkien.”

“Absolutely certain,” she replied, a little dejected by the lack of reaction to her flirtations. “We have deciphered it exactly. It’s up to you and Mr Solo to work out exactly what it means.”

“Hmmm,” Illya murmured absently, as he wandered off to meet up with his partner in their shared office.

“Better luck next time,” Phoebe James called across to a disgruntled Janice, after the Russian had gone.

*****

Solo read through the translated letter three times before handing it back to Illya.

“You can tell Herb was a fan of fantasy novels,” he stated. “The documents are at the Statue of Liberty.”

“How do you know that?”

Napoleon pointed to the sentence which contained the contained the words ‘Freedom Illuminates the Globe’. Illya pondered the phrase.

“Well, freedom is another word for liberty, and she carries a torch, but I don’t see how you can be certain.”

“Don’t tell me there’s something you don’t know,” Napoleon laughed. “The translation isn’t quite correct. Another way of saying ‘Freedom Illuminates the Globe’ is ‘Liberty Enlightens the World’, which is the statues official name.”

The two men were pleased to have solved one part of the puzzle, it wasn’t the full answer. The statue was big, and there was probably dozens of possible hiding places. There were clues in the rest of the letter. McIvor had instructed them to ‘seek the Keeper of the Lost, for he guards the secret’. This was followed up with ‘the human structure shall reveal the truth’.

“The keeper of the lost,” Illya murmured. “You don’t suppose he handed the documents in to lost property?”

“You could be right,” Napoleon agreed. “And a human structure is a skeleton. He’s talking about a skeleton key maybe?”

Illya nodded in agreement. If McIvor had given it over to a security guard, they would need to be able to prove it was theirs. Luckily, they knew that the documents were being carried in a brown attaché case, with the initials ‘S.C.F.’ embossed onto it. The initials were a joke, and stood for ‘Secret Classified Files.’ If an agent were to be able to describe the case, and open it, it wouldn’t be a problem getting it back.

“Shall we go and get it?” Illya asked.

“No,” Napoleon told him. “We’ve got a pre-mission briefing with the Old Man in twenty minutes. I’ll arrange for someone else to go.”

*****

When Solo and Kuryakin emerged from the meeting, an hour and a half later, they were handed the attaché case by Lisa Rogers. The agent who had been sent for it had encountered absolutely no trouble. They took it into Waverly, who opened it immediately to check the contents. Napoleon had apprised him of the location and, although it had been a risky course of action, Mr Waverly had to commend Herbert McIvor for his resourcefulness.

“It is a great pity that a good agent had to die for these papers,” he told is top team. “But, his sacrifice will save the lives of countless others.”

“It is a sacrifice we are all willing to take,” Illya replied. “I just hope my death will be as noble as Herb’s.

Waverly stepped over to his drinks tray and poured one out for each of them.

“To Herbert McIvor,” he said, raising his glass for the toast.

It was echoed by Napoleon and Illya, before all three men downed the drinks. They each knew their lives could be the payment for the security of the world, and the all knew they would gladly pay it if they had to.


End file.
